


The Worst Kind of Bread

by redeyedwrath



Series: Sterek Tumblr Ficlets [12]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: (Everyone is supportive but Jackson), Alternate Universe - High School, Gender Roles, M/M, Supportive Derek, mild homophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-22
Updated: 2016-08-22
Packaged: 2018-08-10 09:57:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7840297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redeyedwrath/pseuds/redeyedwrath
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which, Stiles is a dude who likes to wear dresses</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Worst Kind of Bread

**Author's Note:**

> **NOTE:** In this fic, Stiles is a **_cis male_** who wears dresses. He is **not** trans or non-binary, this is a fic about **gender roles**. Everyone who thinks that male-identifying people cannot wear dresses is welcome to fuck off.
> 
> That being said, I don't have anything against trans or non-binary people, considering that'd be self-hate.
> 
> Also! The title comes from a quote from my previous favorite: "Gender roles are the worst kind of bread."
> 
> Enjoy ^^

The material is wispy between his fingers, and he rubs against it to stave off the nervousness. He’s holding his favorite dress - a red one, the first one he’d ever bought - and contemplating something he never thought he would.

He vividly remembers the first time he’d worn a dress, back when he’d just turned thirteen and just thought _fuck it_ and he’d borrowed one of Melissa’s and it felt so right that he had to resist the urge to cry.

Of course his shoulders were too broad, Melissa’s dress too tight in one place and too loose in another, but if you asked him he looked pretty damn good.

That’s when Melissa had walked into the room, eyes widening in shock and afterwards they’d had a really long talk about gender identity and gender expression. It was the first time in a while that he’d actually felt okay.

After he’d told his dad about it, it became a regular thing. Stiles wore dresses on the weekends when he didn’t have to go out and wore ‘men’s’ clothes to school. Not that that bothered him, but sometimes he just wanted to wear a dress but he _couldn’t_.

Like right now.

It’s 7 am on a Monday morning and he’s seriously thinking about wearing his favorite dress to school. Scott knows he wears dresses, Melissa knows he wears dresses, his dad knows he wears dresses. Hell, he’s pretty sure Lydia _somehow_ figured out he wears dresses.

In short, every person who’s of some importance to him knows he wears dresses and doesn’t give a shit.

That doesn’t take away that he’s fucking _terrified._

It’s not like he can possibly become more of an outcast, that’s not it. It’s more the wide-eyed, open-mouthed, whispered-bullshit reactions that he’s going to get.

He clenches his fingers, fabric pulling tight across his knuckles. _He_ knows gender roles are bullshit, but that doesn’t mean that others get that too. He’s mostly afraid of Jackson and his posse - and, well, Derek Hale.

(Mostly because Derek Hale is cute as shit and Stiles is so gone on him that it’s not even funny and he doesn’t want to ruin whatever flying chance he _might have_ with Derek.)

“Stiles?” his dad’s voice sounds from the doorway. He snaps his eyes up. Dad’s looking at him with a mix of worry and understanding in his eyes and Stiles’ stomach flips. “You okay, kiddo?”

“Fine,” he manages to choke out, slowly untangling the dress from his fingers. It’s crinkled now, but he can deal.

“You know what your mom used to say?” his dad says, sitting down next to him on the bed. Stiles clenches his fingers again, trying to ignore the way the bottom of his stomach drops.

“What?”

It’s a good thing to be strange,” his dad begins, squeezing his knee. Stiles smiles halfheartedly up at him. Even after all these years the memory of his mom still hurts.

“Normalness leads to sadness,” he finishes, swallowing past the lump in his throat. His dad smiles at him and leaves. Stiles another long look at the dress and blinks.

Then he puts it on.

-

The moment he opens the door, everything stops. Not even in his imagination - everyone stops talking and stares as he walks in, dress brushing his knees. He’s pretty sure he sees someone drop their books because of it.

He breathes in, then out, and squares his shoulders. He can do this. He isn’t ashamed of this. He’s just a dude wearing a dress.

Of course, that’s when Jackson decides to make an appearance. Stiles squashes the feeling in his stomach telling him to run away because he’s not a coward. He can do this. It’s just Jackson.

“Aw,” Jackson sneers, looking him up and down. “Aren’t you a pretty little princess?”

“Fuck off, Jackson,” he murmurs, opening his locker. Jackson snorts, leaning against the lockers next to Stiles’ in his patented fuckboy lean. Stiles doesn’t know how Lydia puts up with him.

“Finally decided to express your gay in the appropriate way?” Jackson continues. Stiles just grabs his books and slams his locker shut, turning on his heel. Jackson trails after him, because Jackson is a tool and he lives to torment Stiles.

Stiles swallows and keeps walking. He’s not going to let Jackson get to him this time, not about this. He thanks God when he sees Lydia walking towards them.

“Jackson, leave him alone,” Lydia says, eyes narrowed as she stands next to him.

“Really, Lydia?” Jackson spits out, glaring at her. Lydia just purses her lips. Stiles flinches; he doesn’t want to get at the receiving end of that. “You’re siding with him?”

“Everyone with two brain cells knows that a guy wearing a dress is still a guy, Jackson. Now I suggest you either gather your wits and apologize or you don’t and I’ll key your Porsche.”

“Fine,” Jackson bites out, the line of his shoulders tensing. Stiles resists the urge to roll his eyes; Jackson’s such a drama queen. “I’m sorry.”

Then he turns on his heel and leaves, his angry posse stalking away with him. Stiles breathes out a sigh of relief, and turns to Lydia to thank her, but she just shakes her head and pats him on the shoulder.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a mathematical problem to solve.”

Stiles watches her go, her hair waving behind her like a cape and he’s suddenly reminded of why he used to have such a huge crush on her.

-

“Dude!” Scott says when Stiles walks towards him during lunch break - which is the first time they see each other because Stiles takes mostly AP classes and Scott doesn’t. “You’re wearing your favorite dress!”

Stiles rolls his eyes, gathering his dress beneath his ass before he sits down. Scott has this annoying yet endearing habit of pointing out the obvious.

“What gave it away?” Stiles says, waving his hands towards himself. “The fact that I’m - in fact - wearing a dress?”

“You look good, Stiles,” Allison says, a sweet smile on her face that showcases her dimples. Stiles still has no idea why she fell in love with Scott.

“Thanks,” he says, beaming at her, heart pounding in his chest. She’s the first person today to compliment him on it and it feels _good_. “By the way, you’re still too good for Scott.”

“I know,” she says, laughing when Scott squawks indignantly. Stiles joins in, throwing his head back. He doesn’t give a shit about what the others think, even though his hands are still shaking and he still feels like he’s going to throw up any second, because the most important people don’t care.

And in the end, that’s all that matters anyways.

-

Naturally, it’s near the end of the day that things go to shit. Or well, that’s what Stiles thinks when Derek Hale - Derek _freaking_ Hale - suddenly appears next to him, wringing his hands nervously.

“What do you want?” Stiles bites out, pretending his stomach isn’t flipping with nerves. Jackson being a dick, Stiles could handle, but if Derek - if Derek - that’d be too much.  

“You look-” Derek starts, swallowing. “You look really good.”

“Oh,” Stiles eloquently says. “Thanks.”

The corner of Derek’s mouth turns up, so quick that Stiles almost doesn’t catch it. He tries not to fiddle with the edge of his dress but the urge is too strong and then Derek’s eyes drop down to his legs and _shit_ , this is not going to end well.

“I was uh,” Derek says, scratching the back of his head, his shirt riding up a bit. Stiles swallows and tries his hardest not to look down. “Wondering if you wanted to maybe go out with me some time?”

“You’re not just saying that because of the dress, right? Because I’m not going to satisfy some fetish or something if that’s what you’re thinking.”

It might be a rude thing to say - it probably is - but Stiles _needs to know_. Because if this is just a one time thing for Derek, if this is just because Stiles is wearing a dress…

“No!” Derek shouts, his face turning completely red. Stiles kind of wants to hug him. “No, it’s - it’s because of you?”

Stiles raises his eyebrows, trying to pretend his heart isn’t trying to beat its way out of his chest. He really doesn’t want to get his hopes up in case this does turn out to be some prank but - but Derek just said he _likes him_.

“Well, I like you. A lot. And I wasn’t going to say anything but then you were wearing a dress and you just - you look _so good_.”

Derek looks a bit breathless when he’s finished, shifting his weight from one foot to another, face flushed and Stiles heart squeezes in his chest because Derek is _so fucking adorable_ and apparently likes him back? Both with and without the dress?

“Oh,” Stiles says, grinning. “In that case, do you want to go see the newest Marvel? I’ve been dying to go for _weeks_.”

“Yes!” Derek says, too quickly, and he quickly looks down, eyes flickering to the floor in embarrassment. “Yes, of course.”

“Perfect,” Stiles says, unable to keep the smile of his face. Derek’s eyes flutter, dropping to his lips before he looks back up.

Stiles swallows. Derek’s hand is right next to his, he can almost _feel_ the weight of it, warmth radiating off it. He bites down on his panic as he grabs Derek’s hand, watching as Derek’s eyes widen

“Perfect,” Derek echoes.

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, that was just a thing I needed to get out of my system because I'm a trans dude who likes to wear dresses but I don't do it publicly because I'm scared people will invalidate my gender identity because of it...
> 
> I hope you liked it! Please lemme know what you thought?
> 
>  
> 
> [Also I have a Tumblr friendos! Feel free to talk to me about gender-related stuff or fanfic-related stuff or just general stuff there ^^](http://demisexualhale.tumblr.com)


End file.
